Ricardo Geromel is the managing partner of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. In his journey to disrupt the beautiful game, his main goals are to win championships and make the Strikers a global reference in innovation. Former Strikers players include George Best, Gerd Muller, Gordon Banks, Elias Figueroa, Nene Cubillas, Ray Hudson and other soccer legends.
Ricardo co-wrote a cover story of Forbes Magazine, featuring an interview with Dilma Rousseff, Brazil's president.
The globetrotter has worked in five continents in different sectors: as agricultural commodities trader for Noble Group, Asia's largest diversified commodities trading company, in Hong Kong, Switzerland, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Ricardo also worked as project manager in Guinea Conakry for Bolloré Group, a French conglomerate that operates the most extensive integrated logistics network in Africa. Ricardo has also worked in the soccer industry in Beijing, China. Ricardo has been writing for Forbes since July 2011.
Fluent in five languages, Ricardo holds a a Masters in Management from ESCP Europe, Paris, and a bachelor’s degree in business management from Fairleigh Dickinson University, New Jersey.
Tips and stories ideas are always welcome. Find Ricardo in twitter @ricardogeromel

Investing in Brazil? Don't Overlook Hidden Costs

Dilma Rousseff, the world's third most powerful woman, became Brazil's president in January 2011 (Image via Wikipedia).

Let’s go straight to the point: the most common hidden cost in Brazil is corruption. The document revealed by Wikileaks last week and the recent faxina (clean-up) performed by Dilma Rousseff should be enough to vanish any doubts about how deeply rooted corruption is in Brazil.

WIKILEAKS

Last week, Wikileaks revealed a letter sent a year and a half ago by Thomas Shannon, U.S. ambassador in Brazil, to US Attorney General Eric Holder. The American diplomat states that corruption was “widespread and persistent” in all three branches of power during Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva government. Shannon also made an analysis of Brazil’s Justice Department, accusing it of “unprepared” and “dysfunctional.”

This is not the first revelation of the comments of American diplomacy on corruption in Brazil. Documents from 2004 and 2005 showed the same concern and even the risk that the mensalão scandal could end up limiting the government’s ability to run the country. Basically, mensalão was a monthly vote-buying scheme that threatened to bring down Lula’s first government. Mensalão, which occurred in 2005, is a portuguese neologism for “big monthly payment” and is definitively Brazil’s largest scandal since the end of dictatorship in 1987. However, nobody involved has yet gone to jail. This highlights one of Brazil’s main causes of corruption: impunity.

Even in the latter years of Lula government, which started in 2003 and finished in 2011, the American perception on the presence of corruption in the administration had not changed. Corruption was not limited to the three powers; Shannon said the security forces were also hampered by “lack of training, bureaucratic rivalries, corruption in some agencies and police forces too small to cover a country of almost 200 million inhabitants.”

The American ambassador also revealed the problems faced by courts in Brazil. “Although many jurists are top-flight, Brazil’s judicial system is often described as dysfunctional, hobbled by overlapping jurisdictions, lack of training, stultifying bureaucracy, and overwhelming backlogs.” (The complete Wikileaks document can be read here).

Faxina (“clean-up”)

Dilma Rousseff is only behind Angela Merkel and Hillary Clinton on the Forbes list of the world’s most powerful women. Rousseff, who became Brazil’s president in January 2011, has been dedicated to fight corruption. Four ministers have already stepped down in the first nine months of her mandate - a new record for Brazilian democracy.

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